NFL Considering No Kickoff

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Huh?

I thought I was clear enough, but I guess not. The principle of the free kick is that the ball is always to be delivered in such a way as to allow the other team the possibility of gaining possession for an open field play (unless it is kicked far enough to go directly out of bounds beyond the goal line). The proposal would take that right away from the other team, by allowing the team awarded the play that substitutes for a free kick the possibility of either not kicking or kicking directly out of bounds.

I think that after a FG, the scoring team should definitely be starting further back than after a TD, but I don't know how you'd work in K having a choice and R also having a choice.

I wasn't suggesting that as an also, but an alternative, as in Canadian football, where the team that scores a field goal does not kick off unless the team scored against makes them do so. Only after a touchdown or safety touch is there necessarily a kick. But if you wanted to combine it with the current proposal, then I suppose if the team scored against via FG declines to scrimmage, you'd follow by the procedure proposed above.